The New American articles from July 2007

The New American archives from July 2007

Soviet system "collapse".(Letter to the editor)
July 9, 2007... In Dennis Behreandt's otherwise excellent review of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism (April 30), I was very disappointed to see the unmodified phrase, "It seems that following the collapse of the Soviet...

WMDs.(Letter to the editor)
July 9, 2007... More and more lately, a faithful reader would believe your writers are a bunch of lefties, but "The Last Word" by Gary Benoit (February 19) is a real prizewinner. He says: "And after going to war to accomplish one mission--e.g., getting rid of...

Problems with Pinochet.(Letter to the editor)
July 9, 2007... Jim West, in "The Passing of President Pinochet" (Letter to the Editor, February 19), disagreed with your position that Pinochet was wrongly reviled. The facts agree with THE NEW AMERICAN. The Chilean military (of which Pinochet had been its...

Desperate bid to increase recruitment.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Tucked away in the recesses of the current immigration bill is a provision to help boost military recruiting. It's known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors provision, or DREAM. The measure was expected to help boost...

Luring Republican senators into selling out on immigration.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Though few Republicans are willing to stand up and openly support amnesty (even presidential aspirant John McCain, who has cosponsored past amnesty attempts, said in a presidential debate that he has never supported any amnesty), President Bush...

Michael Moore calls for socialized medicine.(Inside Track)(filmmaker Michael Moore)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Filmmaker Michael Moore's latest cinematic provocation, dubbed SiCKO, opens in theaters on June 29. The film's premiere at the "Cannes Film Festival has been an overwhelming success," Moore says on his website. "The 2,000 people inside the...

Habeas corpus restoration moves forward in Congress.(Inside Track)
July 9, 2007... On June 7, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, which would reinstate the right of habeas corpus--the protection against arbitrary and indefinite imprisonment. The new legislation was made necessary in 2006...

Court challenges president on enemy combatants.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... On June 11, a federal appeals court ruled that the president may not indefinitely imprison a U.S. resident on suspicion alone. The ruling comes in the case of enemy combatant Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who was living in Peoria, Illinois, as a...

Being denied a voice on same-sex "marriage".(Inside Track)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... By any measure, Massachusetts is the most liberal state in the nation. Led by Senators Kerry and Kennedy and 11 Democratic House members, the state's congressional contingent--indeed the state itself--consistently leans to the hard left both...

Wins against the Trans Texas Corridor.(Inside Track)
July 9, 2007... It seemed to be a minor victory in the fight to stop the Trans Texas Corridor, the Texas segment of the NAFTA superhighway, after Texas lawmakers who had duked it out against the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Governor Rick...

Preparing for larger conflicts.(Inside Track)
July 9, 2007... According to Agence France-Press, the U.S. military is readying to face expanded and more dangerous threats, especially from Communist China. According to the report, "China's secretive transformation of its military power leaves the United...

Democratic presidential hopeful wants all U.S. troops out of Iraq.(QuickQuotes)(Bill Richardson)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "I would leave no troops in Iraq whatsoever. The difference between me and the other candidates is, they would leave troops there indefinitely, and I would not." Still far from being a top contender, Bill Richardson, former U.S. Ambassador...

It might be stupid to altar the pledge of allegiance.(QuickQuotes)(Jay Leno, television actor)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of...

He rues the absence of Christian influence in our nation.(QuickQuotes)(Thomas Fleming)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "If America were, in fact, a basically Christian or moral nation, Hollywood would be out of business, and so would most colleges and universities." Editor Thomas Fleming of Chronicles magazine would like to see the claim that our nation is...

Candidate Edwards gives Council on Foreign Relations his view about the Iraq War.(QuickQuotes)(John Edwards)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "The war on terror is a slogan only for politics; it is not a strategy to make America safe. It is a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world." During his speech at CFR headquarters in New...

Amnesty concerns her more than two senators having a profanity-laced argument.(QuickQuotes)( columnist Michelle Malkin)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "So, open-borders sellout McCain cursed out Senator John Cornyn. Yawn! I didn't get all worked up about it because when it comes to [obscenities], no obscene utterance compares to the George W. Bush-backed, RNC-backed, Kennedy-conspired,...

Amnesty would weaken U.S. security.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "Granting amnesty would reward lawbreakers and legalize scores of criminals and terror suspects that are currently here illegally, making it that much easier for them to operate within our society undetected. A country which cannot control its...

He's very critical of what came after him at CBS.(QuickQuotes)(anchor Dan Rather)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... "I have nothing against Katie Couric. The mistake [at CBS] was to try to bring the Today Show ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience." Speaking on MSNBC's morning program, former...

Pushing national IDs: Congress tried its best to shackle the nation with a national ID through passage of the Real ID Act. Now several states try to roll back the measure.(REAL ID ACT)(Cover story)
July 9, 2007... The ABC News headline was intended to be alarming. Posted by "Brian Ross & the Investigative Team," the headline proclaimed: "FBI Terror Watch List 'Out of Control.'" According to the report by Justin Rood, the watch list, intended to help...

Alternative explanations for climate change: some scientists have uncovered evidence that climate change is driven by forces that are not of this Earth.(GLOBAL WARMING)
July 9, 2007... Outside the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, a varied coterie of left-wing radicals, inflamed by socialist propaganda and organized by several fringe groups from the far left, blocked roads, attacked police with stones, and waved...

Is there oil beneath your feet? Petroleum products are usually deemed "fossil fuels," created from once-living organisms. But oil may be a renewable resource that is literally beneath everyone's feet.(ENERGY)
July 9, 2007... abiotic (a'bi at'ik): adj. Originating from sources other than biological materials such as plants, animals, or other formerly living organisms. Two illustrations from my junior and senior high-school science textbooks have stuck in my...

What grade does NCLB get? In this fifth year, the No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization amid a cacophony of assenting and dissenting voices. What is the bottom line?(EDUCATION)
July 9, 2007... In 2004, Ashley Fernandez, a 12-year-old girl, along with the other girls in her gym class, was punished by her teacher for poor behavior by being sent into the boys' locker room. While in the locker room, "two boys dragged Ashley into the...

Estonia stands up to Russia: Russia, once almost defunct, is now flush with oil and natural-gas monies and is reasserting its dominance. But in Estonia, resistance to Russian influence is growing.(BALTIC STATES)
July 9, 2007... Climate change, AIDS in Africa, missile defense, and world hunger were some of the weighty topics that dominated the recent Group of Eight (G8) Summit at the historic seaside spa of Heiligendamm on Germany's Baltic Sea coast. However, Russia's...

Federal environmentalism: the Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA will likely open the floodgates to suits seeking to make the federal government enforce all federal laws to the utmost based on the most expansive interpretations imaginable.(CONSTITUTION CORNER)
July 9, 2007... On April 2, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, a suit filed by 12 states and 13 environmental groups to require the EPA to enforce the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) in regard to greenhouse gases. The states and...

Returning a lost toddler.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... On the morning of February 28, Blanca Amarilis was standing on a subway platform in Queens, New York, with her two children. As she let go of her 22-month-old son Stuart's hand to wipe the nose of a younger child, Stuart dashed onto a car of a...

Donated liver.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Maggie Catherwood shared her transplanted liver with an infant)
July 9, 2007... Maggie Catherwood, a college student from Sterling, Virginia, started experiencing disturbing symptoms last fall, including not being able to keep food down. A diagnosis was made the day after her 21st birthday, when she learned that she had...

Children raise funds.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Ridglea Hills Elementary School children raise money for officer Dwayne Freeto's family)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Fort Worth, Texas, police officer Dwayne Freeto was killed in the line of duty last December after his patrol car was struck by a suspected drunken driver. When a group of second graders at the city's Ridglea Hills Elementary School learned...

Food-show host helps.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Rachael Ray helps Enterprise High students prom)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Popular food-show host Rachael Ray was touched by the tragedy that befell the town of Enterprise, Alabama, when a deadly tornado struck the town on March 1. Eight students at Enterprise High School were killed, and the school was totally...

The battle of Chalons: in confronting the Huns under Attila, the man known as "the last Roman" led the remnant forces of Western civilization against the rampaging barbarian horde.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)
July 9, 2007... The citizens of Orleans lay prostrate in the streets, praying for a miracle. Men, women, and children wept and begged the God of nations to deliver them from the greatest calamity young Christendom had yet witnessed. In the distance, the...

Ding-dong.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Daniel Cerda arrested for breaking in)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Daniel Cerda almost made good an escape after breaking into an occupied house in Aurora, Illinois--not a "clean escape," however, because the homeowner managed to shoot Cerda in both legs, but an escape nonetheless. Unfortunately for Cerda, his...

Bitten for his efforts.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Clarence Taylor convicted of attempted first-degree murder, attempted robbery and posession of firearms)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... At 4:50 in the afternoon on March 15, a man later identified as Clarence Taylor entered a Shreveport, Louisiana, gas station intending to rob it. He pointed a gun at a clerk to force compliance, but almost immediately two other clerks pulled...

A little bit of time.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(pizza delivery man spends night in jail after shooting his attackers)
July 9, 2007... Brian Williams, a Flint, Michigan, pizza deliveryman, spent the night in jail on May 9 after be shot one of three men who were attempting to rob him. The 49-year-old Williams was exiting his vehicle to make a delivery when the men began...

Waiting game.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(store owner Merlony Colaco catches robbers at gun point )(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... When a thrown brick busted out a store window at the Molly Pitcher Mini Mart in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, at 11:30 p.m. on March 28, an hour and a half after store hours, owner Merlony Colaco was ready. He grabbed the shotgun that he'd...

Enticing illegal aliens.(Correction Please!)
July 9, 2007... ITEM: "The Senate's failure to pass a broad immigration bill was a major political blow to President Bush," said a CBS/AP story on June 7. "Also in the loser column was the Senate's Democratic leadership.... The legislation now faces a very...

The continuing Iraq war.(THE LAST WORD)
July 9, 2007... Even after deploying 25,000 more troops as part of President Bush's "surge," the news out of Iraq doesn't get any better. Staff Sergeant David Safstrom, on his third tour of duty in the area, recently searched the body of a man killed by his...

Taking it back.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
July 23, 2007... Your article "Wisdom Even in Washington," published in the April 2, 2007 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN, recently came to my attention. In the last paragraph of the article, you express surprise that the Attorney General of Idaho joined certain...

Pledging to the NAU?(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
July 23, 2007... A generation ago some Yale students made up a pledge of allegiance to the UN: "I pledge allegiance to the UN and the Peoples Democracies for which it stands, one world, under Reason, with social and economic justice for all" (from National...

9/11 showdown.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
July 23, 2007... I am very disappointed that THE NEW AMERICAN gave Mr. Kirt Poovey a chance to spread significant disinformation regarding the 9/11 attacks in the Letters to the Editor section of the April 2, 2007 issue. Mr. Poovey dismisses Professor...

Republican support for the Iraq war fades.(Inside Track)(Senator Richard Lugar)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... In a serious blow to the Bush administration, on June 26 Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), usually a steadfast internationalist, broke ranks with the president and the GOP over the war in Iraq. "In my judgment the costs and risks of continuing...

Ex-surveillance judge raps warrantless taps.(Inside Track)(Royce C. Lamberth)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... In a speech to the annual convention of the American Library Association, a federal judge who used to authorize wiretaps in espionage and terrorism cases took issue with President Bush's post-9/11 decision to order warrantless surveillance on...

EU leaders put necks further into Russian energy noose.(OAO Gazprom signs ENI Corp.)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... With the Italian and Russian energy ministers looking on in approval, Italy's largest energy company, ENI, and Russia's state-owned Gazprom signed a deal in Rome on June 23 to build a gas pipeline from Russia via Bulgaria and the Black Sea to...

Exxon Mobil, Conoco ousted from Venezuela.(Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Major U.S. oil firms Exxon Mobil and Conoco Philips are the latest losers in Hugo Chavez' ongoing campaign to nationalize industry in Venezuela. The Associated Press noted that the Chavez government "took majority control of Venezuela's last...

NAFTA superhighway likely to be extended.(Inside Track)(North American Free Trade Agreement)
July 23, 2007... Columnist Jerome Corsi has reported on Worm Net Daily that a superhighway--a train-truck-car-pipeline corridor--created under the auspices of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and actually in the beginning stages of construction...

New EPA air standards may hurt your wallet--and your health.(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... The Environmental Protection Agency announced in June its new mandate for a reduction in federally acceptable ozone levels from 84 parts per billion to 70 or 75 parts per billion. Hundreds of cities and counties will be out of compliance....

GOP presidential candidate surprised at Internet reception he's received.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "To tell you the truth, I hadn't heard about all this YouTube and all the other Intemet sites until supporters started gathering in them. In all my years in Congress, I've never raised money as efficiently, and all I'm doing is speaking my...

Romney very cautious on the campaign trail.(Mitt Romney)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "Running for president in the YouTube era, you realize that you have to be very judicious in what you say. You have to be careful with your humor. You have to recognize that anytime you're running for the presidency, you're on." Who can dispute...

Not all New York firefighters support Giuliani.(John Walsh)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "He's been riding our coattails since 9/11 like he did something. He did nothing. He's a self-promoter. I told my wife, 'Anything that ever happens, I don't want him at my funeral.'" A 21-year veteran of the New York City fire department,...

Mugabe's Zimbabwe imploding as people flee to South Africa.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "But most are fleeing privation, not persecution. Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate was officially 4,530 percent in May; economists say it is at least twice that." In his report appearing in the New York Times, Michael Wines cited a memo...

Canadian complains that the U.S. skirts WTO rules it agreed to.(QuickQuotes)(David Emerson)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "We remain concerned that the U.S. is providing agricultural subsidies in breach of its WTO commitments." Canada's trade minister, David Emerson, claims that U.S. government subsidies to farmers exceeded the $19.1 billion per year limit in each...

Name change of famous island not accepted by men who fought there.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "It was Iwo Jima to us when we took it. We'll recognize whatever the Japanese want to call it but we'll stick to Iwo Jima ourselves." When the Japanese decided to revert to calling the island Iwo To, retired Marine Corps Major General Fred...

Golfer skips his favorite tournament for good reason.(QuickQuotes)(Tom Watson)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "Our daughter only gets married once--we hope." He won the British Open five times and is afar favorite across the Atlantic, but Tom Watson will not participate this year

Outgoing joint chiefs chairman would not resign even when asked to do so.(QuickQuotes)(Peter Pace )(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... "I said I could not do that for one very fundamental reason, that no soldier or Marine in Iraq should think--ever--that his chairman could have stayed in the battle and voluntarily walked off the battlefield." Initial reports claimed that...

Families separated by the state: the incredible true stories of families who have been targeted by state child protective services agencies, as told by the lawyer who represented them.(FAMILIES)(Cover story)
July 23, 2007... The nightmare started when nine-year-old Tevania Tranberg fainted momentarily for no apparent reason when she and her family were at a Trader Joe's store near their Brookline, Massachusetts apartment. The father, Steven Bennett, went with...

This is child protection? State child protective services agencies continually yank children out of good, loving homes, based on flimsy allegations of child abuse--because they can.(FAMILIES)(Cover story)
July 23, 2007... Imagine your terror and panic: you are awakened by an armed SWAT team in the middle of the night, demanding to be let into your home to take your children away. The grim-faced agents show you no warrant, no court order, and no mercy. They give...

Casualties of the Cold War: in Scorpion Down, veteran correspondent Ed Offley claims the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion was sunk in 1968 by the Soviet Navy.(Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion)(Book review)
July 23, 2007... Casualties of the Cold War In Scorpion Down, veteran correspondent Ed Offley claims the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion was sunk in 1968 by the Soviet Navy. Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the...

The freedom index: a congressional scorecard based on the U.S. Constitution.(CONGRESS)
July 23, 2007... Our first look at the 110th Congress shows how every representative and senator voted on key issues, such as the minimum wage, immigration, stem-cell research, and the Iraq War. House Vote Descriptions 1 Minimum Wage. The minimum-wage...

What it takes to have an enduring marriage.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... What does it take to have a good and lasting marriage? How about a marriage that has endured for more than three-quarters of a century? Dr. Chester and Mrs. Eva Brisley can shed light on this question based on their own personal experience....

Police officer serves community.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Paul Deppi)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... More than 15 years ago, when Paul Deppi, then a young man of 20, approached Newtown Township, Pennsylvania, police chief Martin Duffy and told him he wanted to become a police officer, the chief recommended that he prepare for the job by...

FBI special agent donates kidney.(Federal Bureau of Investigation's Tom Simon)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Tom Simon is a special agent with the FBI in Chicago. He joined the bureau 12 years ago and investigates major financial and white-collar crimes. He is married and is the father of two children, ages four and three. Special agent Simon is also...

Warrior and gentleman's gentleman: despite being a battle-hardened general, Robert E. Lee never lost his most admirable trait: his devotion to God, friends, duty, and honor.(HISTORY--AMERICAN SPIRIT)(Robert E. Lee )(Excerpt)
July 23, 2007... Because this year marks Robert E. Lee ' s 200th birthday, we republish, with permission, an abridged version of the chapter on Lee from R. Cort Kirkwood's book Real Men: Ten Courageous Americans to Know and Admire (Cumberland House, 2006). To...

Gone fishing.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
July 23, 2007... Wes Thayer of Junction City, Oregon, is 70 years old and because of medical problems is forced to walk with a cane. His cane is a twisted branch from an apple tree about 38 inches long and with an angle and knob on the end that grew out of the...

Sometimes nobody wins.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
July 23, 2007... Gregory Floyd, a former Marine, was driving with his son in Franconia, New Hampshire, on May 11, when he saw Liko Kenney shoot officer Bruce McKay four times and then drive his car over the fallen officer. In an attempt to save McKay, Floyd...

Pharmacist sick of crime.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Rod Dunn )(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Pharmacist Rod Dunn of Murray, Utah, is done with being robbed. He says that he's already been robbed about 20 times. He didn't like the experience, and so he's come up with a cure: tall counters and narrow pharmacy windows so that employees...

Deadly drive for auto regs.
July 23, 2007... ITEM: "America's energy policy has been broken for too long, and it's time we started fixing it," said the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for June 21. "Motorists loudly complain about soaring gasoline prices but continue buying supersized...

Putin's "bolt from the blue".(THE LAST WORD)(Vladimir Putin )
July 23, 2007... Russian President Vladimir Putin caused a global kerfuffle amongst political and media types with his proposal at the recent G 8 Summit in Germany for a joint U.S.-Russian missile-defense system sited at a Soviet-built base in Azerbaijan. This...